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“Well, you’re here on terra firma now. Are you adequately rested to go spelunking?” Remi asked.
“It’s been a long time since a woman made me an offer like that,” Lazlo quipped, but then his expression grew serious. “I’m sure I can muster some energy. I trust that my directions meant something to you?”
“That remains to be seen. We think we know the starting village Kumasaka refers to as his orientation marker, but there’s no way of confirming it other than going for a hike,” Sam said.
“Lovely day for it. What is it, about a hundred degrees and ninety percent humidity?”
“I thought the Brits used Celsius,” Remi corrected.
“Just tell me it gets more comfortable inland,” Lazlo said.
“Oh, between the mosquitoes, the crocodiles, the rebel forces, and the giants, it feels positively breezy,” Sam assured him.
“I don’t suppose there’s a chance you’re joking about any of that lot?”
“Maybe the bit about the giants. But the rest . . . haven’t you been following the news about the area?”
“Now that you mention it, Selma did say something about rebels, but I thought she was just trying to dissuade me from a cracking good adventure.” He paused and lowered his voice. “The woman’s mad about me. I don’t think she can bear for me to be away, you know. But don’t let on I said anything. I’d hate to embarrass her.”
Remi rolled her eyes as Sam led the way to the parking area. Lazlo’s luggage occupied the entire cargo area and much of the backseat, and he looked cramped in the rear, with barely enough room for his helmet, his knobby knees pressed nearly to his chest.
“I hope the air-conditioning works in this relic,” he said as Sam and Remi climbed in.
“Like a charm. This is the fourth vehicle we’ve gone through since we arrived and easily the hardiest,” Remi said.
“Really? Dare I ask what happened to the others?”
Remi and Sam exchanged a glance and she eyed Lazlo in the rearview mirror. “You don’t want to know.”
“Ah. Quite. I’ll just content myself with swatting at insects, then. Carry on.”
Remi perked up. “Oh, you don’t know Leonid, do you?”
“Haven’t had the pleasure.”
“Then you’re really in for a treat. He makes you look like a starry-eyed optimist.”
“Given the line of work I’ve taken up, a deluded
dreamer might be more accurate,” Lazlo said. “Laos was a bust, and I’m not confident that the letter purported to be from Cooke is genuine. So right now my prospects aren’t stellar.”
“That’s all going to change, Lazlo. Without your decrypting the diary, we wouldn’t have anything, so if we find a treasure at the end of this rainbow, it will be credited to you.”
Lazlo frowned as they hit another rut and he was jarred sideways in his seat. “Well, then. I’m practically already rich, aren’t I?”
Remi couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s what we like about you, Lazlo. Ever the optimist.”
CHAPTER 39
At the hotel, Sam introduced Leonid and Lazlo. They loaded the equipment into the Pathfinder as storm clouds darkened the sky.
“How do you know where to start the search?” Leonid asked as they rolled past the first police roadblock.
“We know that the Japanese moved the treasure from the bay and we know where we met with the only living survivor. We’re hoping we can enlist someone in that village to show us where the old deserted village site was,” Remi said.
“And if not?”
“Then it gets harder,” Sam said.